HABIT IS MEMORY

"I feel assured that there is no such thing as ultimate forgetting;

 traces once impressed upon the memory are indestructible."

- DIVYESH SANGHANI

An accurate and retentive memory is the basis of all business success. In the last analysis, all our knowledge is based on our memories. Plato said it this way, "All knowledge is but remembrance"; while Cicero said of memory, it is "the treasury and guardian of all things." One strong example should suffice for the time being—you could not be reading this article right now, if you didn't remember the sounds of the twenty-six letters of our alphabet!

This may seem a bit far fetched to you, but it is true, nevertheless. Actually, if you were to lose your memory completely, you would have to start learning everything from scratch, just like a new born baby. You wouldn't remember how to dress, or shave, or apply your makeup, or how to drive your car, or whether to use a knife or fork, etc. You see, all the things we attribute to habit, should be attributed to memory. Habit is memory.

Mnemonics, which is a large part of a trained memory, is not a new or strange thing. As a matter of fact, the word, "mnemonic" is derived from the name of the Greek Goddess, Mnemosyne; and, memory systems were used as far back as early Greek civilization. The strange thing is that trained memory systems are not known and used by many more people. Most of those who have learned the secret of mnemonics in memory have been amazed, not only at their own tremendous ability to remember, but also at the kudos they received from their families and friends.

Some of them decided it was too good a thing to teach to anyone else. Why not be the only man at the office who could remember every style number and price; why not be the only one who could get up at a party, and demonstrate something that everyone marveled at?

I, on the other hand, feel that trained memories should be brought to the foreground and to this end -this article is dedicated. Although some of you may know me as an entertainer, it is not my purpose, of course, to teach you a memory act. I have no desire to put you on the stage. I do want to teach you the wonderful practical uses of a trained memory. There are many memory stunts taught in this article; these are fine for showing your friends how bright you are. More important, they are excellent memory exercises, and the ideas used in all the stunts can be applied practically.

The question that people ask me most often, is, "Isn't it confusing to remember too much?" My answer to that is, "No!" There is no limit to the capacity of the memory. Lucius Scipio was able to remember the names of all the people of Rome; Cyrus was able to call every soldier in his army by name; while Seneca could memorize and repeat two thousand words, after hearing them once.

I believe that the more you remember, the more you can remember. The memory, in many ways, is like a muscle. A muscle must be exercised and developed in order to give proper service and use; so must the memory. The difference is that a muscle can be over trained or become muscle bound while the memory cannot. You can be taught to have a trained memory just as you can be taught anything else. As a matter of fact, it is much easier to attain a trained memory than, say, to learn to play a musical instrument. If you can read and write English, and have a normal amount of common sense, and if you read and study this article, you will have acquired a trained memory! Along with the trained memory you will probably acquire a greater power of concentration, a purer sense of observation, and perhaps, a stronger imagination.

Remember please, that there is no such thing as a bad memory! This may come as a shock to those of you who have used your supposedly "bad" memories as an excuse for years. But, I repeat, there is no such thing as a bad memory. There are only trained or untrained memories. Almost all untrained memories are one-sided. That is to say that people who can remember names and faces, cannot remember telephone numbers, and those who remember phone numbers, can't, for the life of them, remember the names of the people they wish to call.

There are those who have a pretty good retentive memory, but a painfully slow one; just as there are some who can remember things quickly, but cannot retain them for any length of time. If you apply the systems and methods taught in this article, I can assure you a quick and retentive memory for just about anything. As I mentioned in the previous article, anything you wish to remember must in some way or other, be associated in your mind to something you already know or remember. Of course, most of you will say that you have remembered, or do remember, many things, and that you do not associate them with anything else. Very true! If you were associating knowingly, then you would already have the beginnings of a trained memory.

You see, most of the things you have ever remembered, have been associated subconsciously with something else that you already knew or remembered. The important word here is, "subconsciously." You yourselves do not realize what is going on in your subconscious; most of us would be frightened if we did. What you subconsciously associated strongly will be remembered, what was not associated strongly, will be forgotten. Since this tiny mental callisthenic takes place without your knowledge, you cannot help it any.

Here then is the crux of the matter I am going to teach you to associate anything you want to, consciously! When you have learned to do that, you will have acquired a trained memory!

Keep in mind that the system that I teach in this article is an aid to your normal or true memory. It is your true memory that does the work for you, whether you realize it or not. There is a very thin line between a trained memory and the true memory, and as you continue to use the system taught here, that line will begin to fade. That is the wonderful part about the whole thing; after using my system consciously for a while—it becomes automatic and you almost start doing it subconsciously.

If I told you that you could memorize the order of a shuffled deck of fifty-two playing cards after hearing them called only once, you would think me mad! If I told you that you would never again be troubled by forgetting names or faces, or that you would be able to remember a shopping list of fifty items, or memorize the contents of an entire magazine, or remember prices and important telephone numbers, or know the day of the week of any date—you would surely think I had "flipped my lid." But read and study this article, and see for yourself!

I imagine that the best way for me to prove it to you is to let you see your own progress. In order to do that, I must show you first how poor your untrained memory is. So take a few moments out, right now, and mark yourselves on the tests that follow. In this way you will be able to take the same tests after reading certain article, and compare your scores.

I feel that these tests are quite important. Since your memory will improve with almost every article you read, I want you to see that improvement. That will give you confidence, which in itself is important to a trained memory. After each test you will find a space for your present score, and a space which is to be used for your score after reading those particular articles. One important point, before you take the tests—read only the article that you think will help you. The entire article will help you, and it is much better if you read from one to the other. Do not jump ahead, of me, or yourself!

Test #1

Read this list of fifteen objects just once—you can take about two minutes to do so. Then try to write them, without looking at the article, of course, in exactly the same order in which they appear here. When scoring yourself, remember that if you leave out a word, that will make the remaining words incorrect, for they will be out of sequence. I will remind you to take this test again, after you've read my next article “Link Method of Memory”. Give yourself 5 points for each correct one.

Book, ashtray, cow, coat, match, razor, apple, purse, Venetian blind, frying pan, clock, eyeglasses, door knob, bottle, worm.

Write your score here :

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Score after learning article “Link Method of Memory”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Sorry, friends, you can not right here just right anywhere else where you can write directly. Like, in you book, or in your computer notepad. It’s just for your reference. So, don’t worry.)

Test #2

Take about three minutes to try to memorize the twenty objects listed here, by number. Then try to list them yourself without looking at the article. You must remember not only the object, but to which number it belongs. You'll be reminded to take this test again, after you've read my next article “Peg System of Memory”. Give yourself 5 points for every object that you put with the correct number.

1. Radio            6. Telephone         11. Dress            16. Bread
2. Airplane        7. Chair                12. Flower           17. Pencil
3. Lamp            8. Horse               13. Window        18. Curtain
4. Cigarette       9. Egg                 14. Perfume         19. Vase
5. Picture          10. Tea Cup          15. Book             20. Hat




Write your score here :

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Score after learning article “Peg System of Memory”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Sorry, friends, you can not right here just right anywhere else where you can write directly. Like, in you book, or in your computer notepad. It’s just for your reference. So, don’t worry.)

Test #3

Look at this twenty digit number for about two and a half minutes, then take a piece of paper and try to write it from memory. Give yourself 5 points for every number that you put down in its correct place or sequence. Understand please, that the important thing here is retentiveness, which you cannot test until you have read my next  article “It Pays to Remember Long Digit Numbers”.

72443278622173987651

Write your score here :

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Score after learning article “It Pays to Remember Long Digit Numbers”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Sorry, friends, you can not right here just right anywhere else where you can write directly. Like, in you book, or in your computer notepad. It’s just for your reference. So, don’t worry.)

Test #4

Imagine that someone has taken five cards out of a shuffled deck of playing cards. Now the rest of the cards (47) are called off to you just once. Could you tell, by memory, which five were not called, or were missing? Let's try it. Look down this list of forty-seven cards only once. After you've done so, take a pencil and jot down the names of the five cards that you think are missing. You must not look at the book while you are writing. Don't take more than four and a half minutes to look at the list of cards. I will ask you to take this test again, after you have read and studied my next article “It Pays to Remember Playing Cards”. Give yourself 20 points for every missing card you list correctly.

Jack Hearts                        Ace Clubs                   Eight Clubs  
Six Hearts                         Ace Diamonds              Nine Spades
Queen Clubs                     Four Hearts                  King Hearts
Four Clubs                        Seven Spades              Ten Spades
Seven Diamonds                Five Hearts                 Seven Clubs
King Diamonds                 Ten Clubs                    Three Hearts
Two Diamonds                 Ten Hearts                   Jack Spades
Nine Clubs                       King Clubs                   Queen Diamonds
Three Spades                Ten Diamonds              Eight Hearts    
Eight Diamonds                Nine Hearts                  Eight Spades
Six Spades                      Five Clubs                    Seven Hearts
Five Spades                    Four Spades                 Two Clubs
Queen Hearts                 Ace Spades                   Queen Spades
Five Diamonds               Three Diamonds             Six Diamonds
Three Clubs                   Two Hearts                    Two Spades
Jack Diamonds              Jack Clubs


Write your score here :

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Score after learning article “It Pays to Remember Playing Cards”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Sorry, friends, you can not right here just right anywhere else where you can write directly. Like, in you book, or in your computer notepad. It’s just for your reference. So, don’t worry.)

Test #5

Take about six or seven minutes to look at the fifteen faces and names pictured here. Towards the end of this chapter you'll find them pictured again in a different order, without their names. See if you can't give the right name to the right picture. I'll remind you to take this test again, after you've read through my next article “More about Names and Faces”. Give yourself 5 points for every name and face that you match up correctly.

Write your score here :

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Score after learning article “More about Names and Faces”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Sorry, friends, you can not right here just right anywhere else where you can write directly. Like, in you book, or in your computer notepad. It’s just for your reference. So, don’t worry.)

Test #6

Take seven to nine minutes to look at this list of 15 people and their telephone numbers. Then copy all 15 people onto a piece of paper, close the Article, and see if you can write the telephone number next to each one, from memory. Remember that if you were to dial one wrong digit, you would get the wrong party—so, if only one digit in the number is wrong, you get no score on that particular one. I will remind you to take this test again, after you've read through my next article “It Pays to Remember Telephone Numbers”. Give yourself 10 points for each telephone number that you list correctly.

Miss Nayana – 256175151

 Mr. Prakash – 271329054

Mr. Rakesh – 924526122

Mr. Kalpesh – 256909099

Mr. Varun – 275757575

Mr. Hitesh -989898908909

Mr. Kaushik – 98989893598

Miss. Janki – 2454654634534

Miss Jigisha – 27646345654

Mr. Dipak - 9385432452346

Mr. Vimal – 7878325873857

Mr. Atul – 938543945443

Miss. Mital – 8732423524546

Mr. Rahul – 95767356756765

Mr. Nishant - 846748726888

Write your score here :

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Score after learning article “It Pays to Remember Telephone Numbers”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Sorry, friends, you can not right here just right anywhere else where you can write directly. Like, in you book, or in your computer notepad. It’s just for your reference. So, don’t worry.)

- DIVYESH J. SANGHANI

HOW KEEN IS YOUR OBSERVATION

Which light is on top of the traffic light? Is it the Red or the Green? Your first thought, probably is that this is an easy question to answer. However, put yourself in this position. You are on one of the current quiz shows that pay a lot of money for correct answers. You must answer this question correctly to win the top prize. Now then, which light is on top, the Red or the Green?

 

If you have been able to picture yourself in the above position, you are probably hesitating now, because you're not really sure which light are on top, are you? If you are sure, then you're one of the minorities who has observed what most people only see. There is a world of difference between seeing and observing; proven, of course, by the fact that most of the people to whom I put the above question, either give the wrong answer or are not sure. This, even though they see the traffic lights countless times every day! By the way, Red is always on top of the traffic light, Green is always on the bottom. If there is a third color, it is usually yellow, for caution, and that one is always in the center. If you were sure that Red was the correct answer, let me see if I can't puncture your pride a bit with another observation test.

 

Don't look at your wrist watch! Don't look at your wrist watch, and answer this question: - Is the number six on your watch dial, the Arabic #6, or is it the Roman Numeral VI? Think this over for a moment, before you look at your watch. Decide on your answer as if it were really important that you answer correctly. You're on that quiz show again, and there's a lot of money at stake.

 

All right, have you decided on your answer? Now, look at your watch and see if you were right. Were you? Or were you wrong in either case, because your watch doesn't have a six at all!? The small dial that ticks off the seconds usually occupies that space on most modern watches.

 

Did you answer this question correctly? Whether you did or did not, you had to look at your watch to check. Can you tell now, the exact time on your watch? Probably not, and you just looked at it a second ago! Again, you saw, but you didn't observe.

 

Try this on your friends. Although people see their watches innumerable times every day, few of them can tell you about the numeral six.

 

Here's another one to try on your friends; but you'd better see if you can answer it first. If you are a cigarette smoker ( In U.S.A.), you have seen a blue tax stamp on your pack of cigarettes each time you take it out to remove a cigarette. On this tax stamp is the picture of a man, and his name is printed under the picture.

 

For the top prize on our imaginary quiz show, name this man! I guess you'll have to leave the quiz show with only the consolation prize. I say this so definitely because only about two or three of the many people I've tested, have answered this one correctly. The man pictured on the revenue stamp is De Witt Clinton! Check it.

 

I don't want to be sneaky, but if you've just looked at the stamp and at the picture of De Witt Clinton, you must have seen what Clinton was doing with his left hand. You also saw, or probably saw, four letters, two on the upper left and two on the upper right of the stamp. I say that you saw these things; I don't think you observed them. If you did, you should be able to tell yourself right now, what De Witt Clinton is doing with his left hand, and also name the four letters.

 

Had to look again, didn't you? Now you've observed that his left hand is at Clinton's temple, as if he was thinking, and the letters are, U.S.I.R. for United States Internal Revenue.

 

Don't feel too badly if you couldn't answer any of these questions; as I said before, most people can't. You may recall a motion picture a few years ago which starred Ronald Colman, Celeste Holm and Art Link letter. The picture was "Champagne for Caesar," and it was about a man who couldn't be stumped with any question on a quiz show. The finale of the film was the last question of the quiz, which was worth some millions of dollars. To earn these millions, Ronald Colman was asked to give his own social security number. Of course, he didn't know it! This was amusing and interesting, to me, anyway, since it struck home. It proves, doesn't it that people see but do not observe? Incidentally, do you know your social security number? That is for U.S.A. but, if you are an Indian then incidentally, does you know your driving license number? And incidentally, do you know your ration card number?

 

Although the systems and methods contained in this article make you observe automatically, you will find some interesting observation exercises in a later article. The system will also make you use your imagination with more facility than ever before.

 

I've taken the time and space to talk about observation because it is one of the things important to training your memory. The other, and more important thing, is association. We cannot possibly remember anything that we do not observe. After something is observed, either by sight or hearing, it must, in order to be remembered, be associated in our minds with, or to, something we already know or remember.

 

Since you will observe automatically when using my system, it is association with which we will mostly concern ourselves.

 

Association, as pertaining to memory, simply means the connecting or tying up of two (or more) things to each other. Anything you manage to remember, or have managed to remember, is only due to the fact that you have subconsciously associated it to something else.

 

"Every Good Boy Does Fine." —Does that sentence mean anything to you? If it does, then you must have studied music as a youngster. Almost every child that studies music is taught to remember the lines of the music staff or treble clef, by remembering, "Every Good Boy Does Fine."

 

I've already stressed the importance of association, and I want to prove to you that you have used definite conscious associations many times before, without even realizing it. The letters, E, G, B, D and F don't mean a thing. They are just letters, and difficult to remember. The sentence, "Every Good Boy Does Fine" does have meaning, and is something you know and understand. The new thing, the thing you had to commit to memory was associated with something you already knew.

 

The spaces of the music staff were committed to memory with the same system; the initial system. If you remembered the word, "face," you remembered that the spaces on the staff are, F, A, C, and E. Again you associated something new and meaningless to something you already knew and to something that had meaning to you. It is probably many years since you learned the jinglet, "Thirty days has September, April, June and November, all the rest have thirty-one, etc.," but how many times have you relied on it when it was necessary to know the number of days in a particular month?

 

If you were ever taught to remember the nonsense word, "vibgyor," or the nonsense name, "Jayesh," then you still remember the colors of the spectrum: Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green, Indigo and Violet. This again is the association and initial system.

 

I am sure that many times you have seen or heard something which made you snap your fingers, and say, "Oh, that reminds me. . . ." You were made to remember something by the thing you saw or heard which usually had no obvious connection to the thing you remembered. However, in your mind, the two things were associated in some way. This was a subconscious association. Right now, I am pointing out a few examples of conscious associations at work; and they certainly do work. People, who have forgotten many things that they learned in their early grades, still remember the spaces and lines of the treble clef. If yon have read this article so far, concentrating as you read, you should know them by now, even if you've never studied music.

 

One of the best examples I know, is the one which was great help to me in my early grade spelling classes. We were being taught that the word, "believe" was spelled with the e following the “I”, In order to help us to commit this to memory, we were told to remember a short sentence, "Never believe a lie."

 

This is a perfect instance of a conscious association. I know for a fact that many adults still have trouble spelling, "believe." They are never quite sure if the “I”, am first, or if it is the “e”. The spelling of the word, "believe" was the new thing to remember. The word, "lie" is a word we all already knew how to spell. None of the students that heard that little sentence, ever again misspelled the word, "believe." Do you have trouble spelling the word, "piece"? If you do, just remember the phrase, "piece of pie." This phrase will always tell you how to spell, "piece."

 

One other example we can take like, college. Here in this word most of persons are confused in that spellings someone says that it’s “collage” some one says it’s “college” Which one is right one? Second is right one but many persons don’t know difference between these two words.

 

Can you draw anything that resembles the map of England, from memory? How about China, Japan? You probably can't draw any of these. If I had mentioned Italy, ninety percent of you would have immediately seen a picture of a boot in your mind's eye. Is that right? If you did, and if you draw a boot, you will have the approximate outline of the map of Italy.

 

Why did this picture appear in your mind's eye? Only because, at one time or another perhaps many years ago, you either heard or noticed that the map of Italy resembled a boot. The shape of Italy, of course, was the new thing to remember; the boot was the something we already knew and remembered.

 

You can see that simple conscious associations helped you memorize abstract information like the above examples very easily. The initial system that I mentioned earlier can be used to help you memorize many things. I'll show you how to do this in future chapters.

 

The systems and methods in this article will show you how the principles and ideas of simple conscious associations can be applied to remembering anything. Yes, that's right— remembering anything, including names and faces, items, objects, facts, figures, speeches, etc. In other words, the systems and methods you will learn in this article can be applied to anything and everything in every day social or business life.

- DIVYESH J. SANGHANI